BackForwardInstrument:  IVM 

Instrument details
Acronym IVM
Full name In-situ Ion Velocity Meter
Purpose Measures ion drift velocity in the spacecraft reference frame, the ion temperature and the total ion number density at the location of the spacecraft.
Short description The IVM consists of two planar thermal ion sensors, a retarding potential analyzer (RPA) and an ion drift meter (IDM)
Background Derived from C/NOFS CINDI project
Scanning Technique Magnetospheric scanning along a low-inclination LEO
Resolution N/A
Coverage / Cycle Large fraction of magnetosphere and ionosphere
Mass Power Data Rate

 

Providing Agency NASA
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 2020 to 2024
Last update: 2021-12-09
Detailed characteristics
Satellites this instrument is flying on

Note: a red tag indicates satellites no longer operational, a green tag indicates operational satellites, a blue tag indicates future satellites

Instrument classification
  • Solar and space environment monitors
  • Field or radiowave sensor
WIGOS Subcomponents
  • Subcomponent 2
  • Magnetospheric energetic particles and magnetometers
  • Electric field sensor [in LEO and cross magnetosphere]
  • Ionospheric electron density sensor [in LEO and cross magnetosphere]
  • Ionospheric plasma density
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • Electron Density
  • Ionospheric plasma density
Evaluation of Measurements

The following list indicates which measurements can typically be retrieved from this category of instrument. To see a full Gap Analysis by Variable, click on the respective variable.

Note: table can be sorted by clicking on the column headers
Note: * Primary mission objective.
VariableRelevance for measuring this variableOperational limitationsExplanation
Electric Field4 - fairNo specific limitation.Earth's limb. Electric field
Ionospheric plasma density*4 - fairNo specific limitation.Earth's limb. Ionospheric plasma density
Ionospheric plasma velocity1 - primaryNo specific limitation.Eart's limb. Plasma velocity
Electron Density*4 - fairNo specific limitation.Platform. Electron density
Ionospheric Scintillation2 - very highNo specific limitation.Earth's limb. Scintillations